Daniel fell into another coughing fit, pulling Aidan’s attention away.
“We need to find you a healer,” he said.
Daniel took a deep, shuddering breath, wiped his mouth. “I’m actually feeling a bit better. The heat bubble has helped. It just failed to melt the cold already building in my chest.” He began tracing random patterns on the tabletop. “I’ve been thinking. We’re taking too long, even with the shifts.”
Aidan propped his elbow on the table and cupped his face with one hand, more to hide his profile than out of tiredness. “I agree. I thought about taking a ship, but they’re slow. I’d also rather not be on the water. The vagrants could sink us.”
“That would be bad,” Daniel said, nodding.
“So, what other option is there?”
Daniel glanced at the boys throwing the dice, folded his arms and leaned forward. “Did I ever tell you why my family moved to Torel?” he said quietly.
“No,” Aidan said, interested.
“I... got in some trouble back east.”
Now Aidan leaned forward. “What kind of trouble?”
“Have you heard of the sneaks?”
Aidan frowned, then his eyes bulged. “The thieves’ guild? They’re real?”
Daniel lifted his hand and shook it in a sort of gesture. “My father was always out at sea, and my mom was busy around the farm. I got bored and sort of fell in with them when I was seven. I had a friend who knew where to find them, and they brought me in.” He squirmed. “The sneaks caught a tough break. They’re known as the thieves of the east, yes. That’s what got me into trouble. No need to get into that right now,” he said in a rush. “But they’re also the eyes and ears of the merchants’ guild. There’s nothing that goes on in Crotaria that they don’t know about. Plenty of places beyond this rock, too.
“Anyway, the sneaks like to... well, they sneak around, obviously. But not above ground. Not unless they have to. They use a series of underground tunnels. These tunnels are like strands in a spider web. They’re all over Crotaria. We—I should say, they— have passages into every city and village in Torel, Leaston, the Ihlkin mountains through Darinia. Even down in Sallner, though I hear most of those tunnels have been blocked off.”
“You hear? From who?”
Daniel nodded at the boys in the corner.
“They’re sneaks?” Aidan asked, stunned.
“The guild prefers to recruit young. It’s easy to teach kids how to creep around. They’re small, quiet. Adults bumble and fumble about like... well, like princes trying to pinch sweets in the dead of night.” He flashed Aidan a grin, then grimaced. “Or like men in armor.” He shifted, and his mail rattled. “I never have gotten used to wearing all this.”
Aidan chuckled. “So, what about these tunnels? Could we use them?”
“We already have, actually. Do you remember the passage I used to get us off the Sunfall grounds?”
“And the cave you happened across during the storm?” Aidan said, letting out a low whistle. “I can’t believe you found it.”
“The storm made things difficult,” Daniel admitted. “But I knew about where we were. Well, there’s a tunnel nearby, and I got the key.” He took a piece of parchment out of his pocket and unfolded it. Sketched in the middle was an “X” with a wiggly line through each side. “I showed them my sneak coin—everybody gets one of those; show it to the right person, give a password or twelve using the sign language”—his fingers flickered then dropped back to the table, so fast Aidan was almost convinced his friend hadn’t even moved—“and there’s nothing they won’t give you. So they gave me this key and told me where to find the tunnel.”
“How do we use the key?”
“All the sneak tunnels are connected, like I said. Once you’re underground, you come to what they call waypoints, large caverns with a bunch of passages. Just look for your key next to the passage and follow it.”
Aidan nodded, remembering the V-in-a-V he’d noticed scratched in the stone back in the cave. “I agree that moving underground will feel safer, but will it really be any faster?”
“Much,” Daniel said, and he shifted in his seat, looking uncomfortable. “The tunnels are magic.”
“Incredible!” Aidan said. “I doubt even Tyrnen knows about these tunnels.” The thought of Tyrnen’s mouth dropping to the floor as he, Aidan, lectured his teacher—pacing back and forth and waggling a finger, of course—on these century-old passageways made him smile. You cannot learn everything from dusty papers older than you are, old man. His delight sharpened into a pang of homesickness. “How do they work?” he asked, pushing the feelings away.
Daniel took a breath. “Dark magic.” Aidan’s breath caught in his throat.
Noticing Aidan’s look, Daniel shook his head hard and fast. “I don’t use it. I don’t have a magical bone in my body. The architects who built the tunnels, thousands of years ago—maybe more—they used it. Running the tunnels is like... It’s like riding shadows, they’ve said. Like waves of darkness that carry you forward.”
“Dark magic is...” Aidan glanced around and lowered his voice. “It’s forbidden, Daniel. Dark magic is what dug up those vagrants from the ground and sent them after me.”
Daniel sat back, looking troubled. “Can it really be all bad? I’ve seen friends of mine feed on dark magic so they could slip away before getting arrested for stealing food they needed to survive.”
“Stealing is still wrong.”
“As wrong as forcing dead bodies to hunt us down?” Daniel shook his head. “This is why I didn’t mention the tunnels earlier. Look, I don’t claim to know much about dark magic, or light magic, or mid-afternoon magic, or any other type of magic you can think of. I’m just saying a sword can spill any man’s blood, not just the ones who deserve it.”
Aidan went quiet at that.
Daniel cleared his throat and continued. “Anyway, we won’t have vagrants stalking us, and you won’t need to worry about anyone recognizing you. We just follow this key”—he tapped the paper—”and take the tunnels straight into Sallner.” He shrugged. “I just figured moving underground would—”
“It’s a good plan,” Aidan said, not looking up.
Daniel nodded, coughed into a fist. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?”
“What happened at Sharem?”
Aidan looked up. “What have you heard?”
“Not much. Only that... Well, that you assaulted your father after the battle. He sent word back to Sunfall, believing that you had shifted there, and...”
Aidan leaned back, no longer hearing Daniel as a horrific thought took root. His father had also undergone a drastic personality change since returning from the retreat. And his eyes, like his mother’s impersonator, had been lifeless, devoid of emotion.
The creature that impersonated my mother... could my father have a doppelganger as well?
—I would assume so, yes.
Where are they? Where are my parents?
—That is not a question I can answer now.
If you can’t help me, I need to know who—
—The Prophet will help you.
Aidan grimaced. That’s what you keep saying.
—Do you trust me?
Do I have a choice?
Silence. It was then that Aidan noticed Daniel waving his hand in front of Aidan’s face. “Are you all right?” Daniel asked, his face creased in worry.
“I’m fine,” Aidan said, hoping he sounded it. “Just tired.”
Daniel slowly sat back. “You’re sure?”
“Yes. I was, ah, conferring with the sword.”
“I didn’t hear anything.”
Aidan tapped his head.
Daniel’s eyes widened. “Oh,” he breathed.
Aidan nodded and cleared his throat. “What were you saying about my father?”
“The colonel told us that Tyrnen and your father communicated while you two were at Sharem, and that th
e old man told your mother that you’d come to see him.”
“Oh,” Aidan said slowly. Why would Tyrnen turn me in? He pursed his lips. He probably didn’t have much choice. If he would have tried to cover for me, he might have made himself an enemy of Torel. Or maybe he doesn’t know about my parents, about what they are. Despair washed over him. Maybe the vagrants got to him, too.
“We don’t have to talk about Sharem if you don’t want to,” Daniel said. “I just wondered, because of everything that’s happened since you got back, that maybe something there triggered... I don’t know... all of this.” He gestured expansively.
“Trouble did start at Sharem, yes.” Aidan stared levelly at Daniel. “The Darinians had a force hidden in the forest across from the city. The regiment I led was nothing compared to the number of clansmen stashed away in those trees.” He paused. “I butchered every last one.”
Daniel let out a slow whoosh of breath. The waitress returned, bending to offer them a generous view as she set their drinks in front of them. Aidan was too involved in his examination of the table to notice, and Daniel was staring straight ahead. She shot them both a sulky frown and went back to the bar.
“You did what you had to do,” Daniel said. “They would’ve killed our men.”
“I know. But I don’t believe in the war, Daniel. The way I see it, I was forced to choose between lives. If I wouldn’t have acted, Wardsmen would’ve been killed. But because I got involved, clansmen were killed. I’m not certain of Darinia’s guilt, so what I did doesn’t feel right.”
He shook his head. “Something doesn’t fit. Think about it. Romen, Cynthia, and a few clansmen make the trip to my Rite of Heritage. No hostile words—at least none that I know of—are exchanged between them or my parents. Then suddenly we’re at war? A party of seven Darinians ambushes the Crown of the North, the Eternal Flame, and Edmund the Valorous, one of the greatest Torelian generals since my great-great-great-great... Ah, since Ambrose Gairden? Why? That was suicide! Romen and the clansmen are great warriors, but to attack those three... It just doesn’t make sense.”
Daniel tapped his finger against his cup. “Tyrnen said he believed they’d probably been plotting against Torel for a long time. You don’t believe them?”
Aidan started to reply when a sudden realization struck him. It was after his parents had returned from their retreat that their behavior had so drastically changed—but their behavior had changed because they had changed. His parents hadn’t entered into a war; the creatures impersonating them had done that.
Which meant his parents had never returned from Sharem, or Lake Carrean, or wherever they had really gone.
“We’ve got to return to Sunfall,” Aidan said tensely.
“What? We just ran away!”
“I’ll explain on the way,” Aidan said, starting to rise.
—Home is not safe, Aidan.
I’m not listening to you anymore. You haven’t told me anything about my parents, and I—
Slow, heavy footsteps cut him off, and both men looked up to see a large, Sallnerian man standing to the side of their table. He was tall, powerfully built, and dirty.
“This is my table,” the man growled. “I want it back.”
“Odd,” Daniel said. “I remember you sitting at the bar when we came in.”
Glancing over his shoulder, Aidan noticed the innkeeper whispering with two other large men from where they watched events unfold at the bar.
The man popped his knuckles as he stared at Daniel. “Know what I think? I think you two are the only Wardsmen around tonight. I think I’d watch your tongue if I were you, Torelian. I might have to rip it out.”
“It will get easier,” Daniel said.
The man narrowed his eyes. “What’s that?”
“Thinking. It always hurts the first time.”
The burly fellow snarled and yanked Daniel out of his seat. Gripping Heritage, Aidan blinked. His vision went black-on-white.
He slid out from behind the table and went behind the man in one smooth motion.
“Let him go,” Aidan said. The man whirled to face him. His scowl receded into a pale, thin-mouthed stare. He released Daniel and raised his hands in surrender, but his eyes kept darting from Aidan to something past him.
Stools scraped and clattered to the floor behind him. Aidan spun to meet the other men as they rushed forward. They halted as they looked into his eyes, stopping so fast they almost tumbled forward.
—Behind you.
Pivoting, Aidan swung Heritage around and severed the first man’s fist from his arm. The disconnected hand plopped to the floor. Blood pooled around it. Aidan continued to spin, coming back around to face the three men he had been staring at a moment before. The wounded thug howled and stumbled out of the bar clutching his gushing stump. Pushing past each other, his friends hastily followed.
Aidan blinked and his vision returned to normal. He looked at Daniel, who wore a look of shock.
“It seems I’m the only Gairden blessed with both sides of Ordine,” Aidan explained in a low voice, then noticed Daniel shaking his head. “What’s wrong?”
“Aidan—your eyes were glowing white.”
Startled, Aidan looked at Heritage. Why did my eyes glow?
—The change your vision undergoes when you wield me in battle is reflected outwardly as well.
But why does that happen?
—All of your questions will be answered, but only if you continue south to the Prophet.
I already told you, I need to get home to—
—Home is dangerous, Aidan. You have seen that. Also, your family is not there. Please. For now, I ask that you trust me.
Aidan thought for a moment. Will you answer more of my questions?
—The Prophet will answer—
Rage and desperation, blacker than the despair he’d felt when he’d lost control at Sharem, swept through him. No. You’ve had me waiting and running for days. I’m exhausted, I’m angry, and... and I’m afraid. Give me answers or I turn around and go home.
—Very well. But not now.
When?
—Later tonight. I promise.
Aidan focused on Daniel. “It has something to do with wielding Heritage.”
“Oh,” Daniel said faintly. “I suppose that’s fine, then.”
Adjusting his hood, Aidan strode to the innkeeper. The bony man had turned a pale shade of gray. Aidan leaned in close to the cowering man. “I trust that while we sleep tonight, none of your large friends will mistakenly enter the wrong room.”
“N-no, sir. I’ll m-make sure of it.”
“Good,” Aidan replied. Then he had an idea. He bowed his head, gripped Heritage, blinked, and slowly raised his eyes. The innkeeper took one look at his eyes and let out a terrified shriek, dashing through the doorway behind the bar.
—Oh, that was fun, the grandmotherly voice said.
With a grim smile, Aidan motioned for Daniel to follow him. They bounded up the stairs.
Down in the empty common room, the Torelian man and Sallnerian woman sat forgotten. They shared a look, then the man reached down to kiss his companion’s hand and made his way up the stairs. The woman continued to sit, studying the severed hand, and thinking.
Chapter 18
Whispers in the Night
AIDAN TOSSED AND TURNED a few more times before sitting up. He looked across the room. In another narrow bed, Daniel mumbled in his sleep and coughed softly. Swinging his legs to the floor, Aidan dressed and took Heritage from beneath his pillow. Pulling his hood down over his eyes, Aidan tip-toed to the door, cringing with every creaky step, eased it open, and closed it gently behind him.
Wind shook the Hornet Nest’s thin walls as he made his way down the stairs. The common room was dark but for lanterns that cast flickering pools of light on every other tabletop. Aidan grabbed a lantern and made his way to a booth against the far wall with a perfect view of the front door, the stairs, and the door behind the bar. He sat down, t
ugged away his hood, and placed Heritage and the lamp on his table.
I didn’t wake you, did I? he asked.
—Not at all. I don’t need to sleep.
Good. You said we would talk more later if I chose not to leave. It’s later.
—So it is. You can speak aloud if you like. We are quite alone.
Aidan winced. “I feel funny talking to you out loud.”
—I’m hurt.
“You know what I mean.”
—I suppose I do, though I don’t understand why it bothers you so much. You are partaking in one of the most intriguing traditions of your family. I would think your embarrassment would be dampened by your fascination.
“Are you one of my ancestors, then?”
—No.
“Then who are you?”
—That question will be answered in due time. What others do you have?
Aidan sifted through his many inquiries. “Why do my eyes glow when I wield you? And my vision change—does all of that have to do with Ordine’kel?”
—Actually, no. Gairdens who were gifted with only one half of Ordine did not experience what you have. It is, as with so many things of late, unique to you.
“Why?”
—I will answer the ‘why’ regarding the vision shift you experience, but as for why so many unique events are happening to you, that is better left for another conversion.
“Fair enough.”
—In short, when you combine ’cin and ’kel, you are tapping the full potential of the Lady of Dawn herself.
He expelled his breath in a slow whoosh. “Do you mean to tell me that I can channel the power of a goddess?” Heritage was silent for a moment.
—I mean you are the most powerful human to have ever existed. You were strong before; you are even more so, now. Your vision changes because... The sword paused. Because the Sight, as I call it, is perfect, allowing you to see what is truly there.
Aidan was speechless. He thought back to his confrontation with the vagrant posing as his mother. When he’d embraced Ordine’kel, its true face had been revealed as if its mask did not exist.
Heritage: Book One of the Gairden Chronicles Page 15